Travel
Ever since David took me to Barbados in September 1994, we have had the travel bug…
We have been to lots of places since and on this page I thought I would put a little summary of the places we have been to and stayed in.
Beantown and the Big Apple - October 2005
OK, any excuse to go to foreign lands - and once again it was to see Jamiroquai and catch up with friends. We flew into Boston and immediately drove off into Maine for some leaf peeping! We drove up to Ogunquit which was stunning - some of the houses there were gorgeous. We breakfasted at the Egg and I and stayed at the Meadowmere Resort, which was excellent value and a great place to stay. We covered a lot of miles in those few days and by the time we headed back to Boston to see friends we were ready to relax! We stayed with Nate and Kim in Charlestown, Boston and spent a few lazy days with them (including catching a Jamiroquai show) before heading off to New York on the Greyhound bus to see Jamiroquai in New York too. We stayed at the Hotel Edison which, whilst not the most luxurious of places, was soooo convenient for Times Square. Of course, David soon discovered the Quiksilver shop on Times Square and bought a couple of things….helped along by me! One thing that was odd was to see the famous NY skyline without the World Trade Centre - it had been so dominating on our visit back in 1996. We ummed and ahhed about visiting Ground Zero but in the end went to pay our respects. We took no photographs though and can’t really understand why tourists were taking pictures of it.
Icelandic Midwifery - July 2005
As part of my midwifery training, I got to undertake a week’s placement anywhere in the world (self-funded of course). I decided to observe midwifery in Iceland and stayed with an Icelandic student midwife whilst I was there. There was not much time for sight-seeing, but I did get to visit my favourite sculpture again, “Sun Craft” by Jon Gunnar Arnason, as well as re-visiting many of our favourite haunts such as Kaffibarinn and Sjavarkjallarin. Iceland tally David 5 Sharon 4!
Sun and Sailing - June 2005 (photos)
In June 2005, we took our first Sunsail holiday to Greece. We chose to stay at Club Leda - as it was adults only and not too windy for Sharon and her beginner sailing skills!! We were lucky enough to be there for a fortnight and in that time we sailed almost every day, went mountain biking and spent some time relaxing too. We sailed together for the first time ever and won the asymmetric race in the Sport 16 boat, with David at the helm and me crewing, “Aye aye Captain”! I also astounded myself with two achievements on this holiday - completing my RYA Level 2 sailing certificate and taking part in the beginners race series. This was only two races, but considering I had never sailed a race before I was pleased to complete the course (despite a shaky start, which I am still blaming on the tiller extension!) and even more pleased when on the final night of the holiday I discovered I had won the beginners race series! We were both extremely sad when the holiday came to an end…and promised we would book another Sunsail holiday for 2006.
Romantic Paris - May 2005 (photos)
We had a flying visit to Paris at the end of May 2005. It was actually to see our favourite band Jamiroquai in concert but we also managed to catch up with friends and see some of the sites of Paris too. We seriously walked miles! Naturally we had to go up the Eiffel Tower and take a boat trip on the Seine. We climbed to the top of the Sacre Coeur (it was hard work!), visited the Arc de Triomph, the Pompidou Centre (how ugly is that building, just horrid!) and the Louvre. Not that we went in, as art galleries aren’t really our thing it must be confessed. The next trip to Paris will involve a visit to Versailles…which means we have to go back!
Anniversaries in Iceland - November/December 2004 (photos)
Our vow to return to Iceland in the Winter happened a little sooner than we thought it would! For our 6th wedding anniversary - and Mum and Dad’s 40th anniversary - we went to Iceland. We are so in love with the country and it just seemed right to visit again. We did the usual tourist things, Gulfoss and Geysir (again!) and the Blue Lagoon. We had dinner at a posh restaurant Sjavarkjallarin (in English called the Seafood Cellar) which seems to now be a tradition. David has visited this restaurant every time he has been to Iceland, which is four times now.
In December 2004, we were back in Iceland again - this time with our friends Carole and Mark who were celebrating their 4th wedding anniversary. We did the same tourist things (yep, you guessed it, Gulfoss, Geysir, the Blue Lagoon) and went off driving again in the dark and snow! This time we visited somewhere I had never been before - Pingvellir - which is the site of the first Icelandic parliament and just stunning scenary. Iceland tally: David 5 Sharon 3!!
Santorini - August 2004 (photos)
OK, so we made a mistake! We chose the hottest time of the year to go to one of the Greek islands, Santorini, for our first ever “two weeks in one place” holiday. We stayed at the Aegean Plaza Hotel, in Kamari and had a very lazy fortnight. But just like our American Adventure - we came back more shattered than when we went! I think it was too do with eating too much and drinking too many cocktails by the pool…!
Skidooing in Iceland - June 2004 (photos)
David was lucky enough to go over to Iceland a couple of times in early 2004. We then managed to both be there for a week in June, as I managed to arrange my shifts so that I could go over there. The plan was a couple of days in Reykjavik and then a tour by car of the South of the island. We visited Gulfoss Waterfall, Geysir which is, erm, a geysir. We then drove all the way to Hofn (pronounced Hup), went to the second largest glacier in Europe - Vatnajokull - where we went skidooing which was great fun! On the way back we had a boat trip on Jokulsarlon where an amazing “on ice” James Bond car chase was filmed. We stayed in Vik (the most Southerly town in Iceland) on the way back and went Iceland horse-riding. Whatever you do, don’t call them ponies! Of course, you can’t visit Iceland without visiting spectacular waterfalls - Gulfoss being the largest but by far and away the coolest is Seljalandsfoss, which you can walk behind (and get rather wet!) but also stunning is Skogafoss. I tried to go whale watching once we got back to Reykjavik - no whales to be seen on the four hour trip but plenty of dolphins! One of the final things we did was visit the Blue Lagoon for a relaxing swim before heading home. What a trip we had - and we vowed to return to Iceland in the Winter.
American Adventure - August 2003
In August 2003, we visited the USA for a Grand Tour! We covered San Francisco, Las Vegas and Miami in two (very short!) weeks and were more tired when we got back than when we set off! Some of the trip highlights were visiting Alcatraz; seeing the giant redwood trees in Muir Woods; flying by helicopter to, and then landing in, the Grand Canyon (where the picture above was taken); going to the Hoover Dam with our friend Jay who lives in Vegas and taking an airboat ride in the Everglades followed by a quick hold of Snappy the baby Alligator!
Jazz in Montreux - July 2003
In July 2003 we visited Montreux in Switzerland for the Jazz Festival, in order to see Jamiroquai. We stayed in the very swanky Montreux Palace, a lovely 5 star hotel. We had a particularly enjoyable time at the gig and a wonderful boat trip on Lake Geneva…very relaxing!
Fun in the Mediterranean Sun - September 2001
Off we went for a relaxing week in Menorca with our Godson, Harry and his Mum and Dad (Kate and Anthony). We stayed in a lovely villa and had a week doing nothing - except David and Kate having a suntanning competition! the most energetic thing we did was visit the fish market in the capital and cook huge prawns on the BBQ when we got back to the villa! Restful bliss…
Adventures on the Other Side of the World - February 2001
Off we set to Australia, New Zealand and the Cook Islands, the excuse being a wedding of two friends of ours Martin & Rej. The Stag & Hen parties were taking place in Sydney and the wedding in Auckland, so naturally we had to squeeze in both! Some of the highlights of this trip were snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef on David’s birthday; taking a helicopter over Uluru; climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge; zooming around in six inches of water in New Zealand on the Huka Jet Boat and finally enjoying a relaxing few days on the very beautiful island of Rarotonga in a gorgeous villa by the lagoon! Paradise indeed…
Caribbean Sunshine - November 1999
Halloween 1999 saw us flying out to Antigua with our friends Anthony (who was an usher at our wedding the year before) and Kate, his wife. We stayed at the Pineapple Beach Club and spent an enjoyable ten days of eating scrummy food and drinking lots of cocktails! The weather wasn’t amazing, but it was nice to get away from everything.
Honeymoon Bliss - November 1998
After much deliberation, we decided to re-visit Barbados for our Honeymoon, although this time we stayed in a lovely all-inclusive resort! We stayed at the couples only Almond Beach Club and spent many an hour relaxing on the beautiful Bajan west coast beach, sipping cocktails from Tommy’s Rum Shop. Believe me, David’s Rum Addiction was not helped by this trip! We took a helicopter flight around the island and went back to some of the places we had visited on our trip four years previously. It was reconfirmed as our favourite place in the world…
ER anyone? - November 1997
We naturally chose to visit our friend Kara in Chicago when it was freezing cold in the Winter - if you have seen the American show ER, you’ll know what the snow can be like there! We arranged our trip to coincide with a Jamiroquai concert, which was later cancelled, but we flew off anyway! We went up the Sears Tower and visited Navy Pier - all the usual tourist things! We stayed in a motel - the Ohio House Motel - which was basic but comfortable (and all we could afford as we had moved house that year!).
The Big Apple - September 1996
Boy, was I excited! We were going to New York! I was beside myself - I couldn’t believe I was going to see all those famous landmarks! We made the most of our time there, visiting the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building and the World Trade Centre. It certainly is very odd to think that the Twin Towers are no longer there, dominating the NY skyline. We also took a helicopter tour over the city, which was very cool and was the first time I had travelled in what is now jokingly referred to as my favourite mode of transport! Naturally, I made the most of the shopping - and I particularly enjoyed visiting FAO Schwartz and Saks Fifth Avenue, as for affording to buy anything there, that’s another story…
First holiday together - September 1994
As David was working for British Airways during his placement year and I was graduating the week after we returned, we thought we would take advantage and go on holiday “on the cheap”. This transpired to be a week in Barbados - so David has no-one to blame except himself for my love of far-flung places! We were upgraded to Club Class on the way there and promptly got the bus at the airport to our holiday apartment at the Golden Sands Hotel, in the south of the island. We took a cruise on the Jolly Roger pirate ship (David especially liked the rum punch!) and we had such a wonderful time we vowed to go back…